The administration of US President Donald Trump is mulling new travel bans against 43 countries, including a possible pause of processing visa applications from Afghanistan, Iran, and Syria, US media reported on Friday.
According to a report by The New York Times, US diplomatic and security officials have drafted a list of the countries targeted, with varied travel bans for three categories.
Under the new plan, a full ban on entry is suggested against 11 countries including Afghanistan, Cuba, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Syria, Venezuela and Yemen. Meanwhile, it denies entry on immigrant or tourist visas of nationals from Belarus, Eritrea, Haiti, Laos, Myanmar, and Pakistan, among other countries. Travellers from countries like Angola, Benin, or Cambodia will be affected if their government fails to seriously improve the practices the US side says are deficient within 60 days, according to the report.
The report, citing anonymous sources, said the list was drafted by the State Department several weeks ago, with changes to be made possibly before it was submitted to the White House.
Trump signed an executive order after taking office on January 20, requiring the State Department to produce within 60 days a list of countries “for which vetting and screening information is so deficient as to warrant a partial or full suspension on the admission of nationals from those countries.”
